Just in case the second paragraph didn’t get through to you… If you’re thinking of coming to China, do not use Blogspot. It is blocked in China. Do not use Blog-City. It is blocked in China. Do not use Blogsome. It is blocked in China.

Re: MSN Spaces, I tested the limits of the service with a Chinese blogger friend of mine (who is located in a different part of China than me and therefore has a slightly different version of the Net Nanny to labor under) and we found that the nanny scripting was disabled when someone registered their email account with the US Hotmail server and then used spaces.msn.com instead of the Chinese Spaces site. We haven’t since returned to testing Spaces (mostly because it’s such a crappy blog service), but someone who uses the American/Western MSN websites should be free of hassles.

Before I go: another free host worth mentioning is LiveJournal, which loads fast and has a thriving expat community.

Can’t get xanga as of yesterday, and I’m nervous it has joined the ranks of the blocked. Anybody want to confirm/deny this from elsewhere in China? I’m in Haikou, Hainan, and a friend of mine in Sanya, Hainan also can’t access it.

I haven’t been able to get to xanga or livejournal for probably a week now.
My friend who has a blogspot journal said that even when she can’t access it to see it, she can still update it, so it works for keeping people back home (or any other country) updated, I guess.
And Blogspot pages have been working for me lately.
(I’m in a rural city in Guangxi)

Make that HAD. As of March 12th when I last successfully accessed xanga.com, xanga.com has been blocked – I am in Gguangdong which is SUPPOSED TO BE relatively free because of its nearness to Hong Kong – well, relative by China’s standards is indeed a VERY relative term.

back in Octover all out of a sudden i got the access to my blog on wordpress.com, but only for 2 or 3 weeks. Now it has been blocked yet again since about 3 weeks. I’m so f%&*^ng tired of this!!! grmbl

Me too! Me too! I’m having trouble going on Xanga.com nationwide in China. When my plane landed in Beijing last month, I spent 1 week trying to acccess it >.< I promised my friends I will update information about the 2008 Olympics to them and now it seems like I can’t keep my promise. I also tried it in Guangxi (Nanning), Yunnan (Kunming), Hainan (Haikou), and pretty soon Hong Kong because that is my next destination. If it doesn’t work in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Tianjing I might have to stick it to MySpace. I hope not.